Like the girls at the dance
A few years ago I knew a young periodontist who admitted that his marketing program was failing. He was good at his work and he had good help at his office. And yet he knew that the plane was reaching the end of the runway and he wasn’t gaining lift.
The next time I checked in with him, he worked as an employee for a larger dental firm downtown that bought his business.
He lost at the marketing game.
A lot of small businesses struggle to find the right marketing mix. They try this and that. Is it newspaper ads, social media, billboards, email, or what else? Like the periodontist, they may do their work well, but if others don’t hear about them and become convinced they are good, the business flops.
It doesn’t seem fair.
Marketing is a hard taskmaster if you want to win. One medium zings it for one type of business, and yet something entirely different will work for another.
Frustrated with home care marketing?
If you are a home care or hospice company, are you frustrated in your experience with marketing professionals? One assures you that their method will work wonders for you. But actually, they want you to buy into their system. They often do not in fact know what will work for the home care industry.
One of our clients here at Savvy Senior Marketing was approached some years ago by a marketing firm that wanted to build a big fancy website for thousands of dollars. A quick fix, right?
But the owner didn’t see the ROI of spending that much money. After we talked to the owner for a while, we saw that their real marketing strength was in their mailing list. Those who already did business with them. We convinced them of this. Now we are planning a marketing campaign that will reach out to the friendly faces on their list.
Specialization is why we here at Savvy Senior Marketing chose with home care and hospice marketing. We didn’t always service the home care industry. Over the years, we have gained experience in other markets with a whole array of methods: sales calls, paid internet marketing, social media, public relations and print marketing.
Which will we recommend for you?
It all depends. We have no vested interest in pushing one to the exclusion of the other. We know that some are glitzy, and seem like a quick fix. But on the whole we know which methods tend to work better. We want what’s best for you.
We put ourselves in the shoes of the home care company and say, “what has shown itself to be the best type of marketing for this market, at this time?”
Your current list is gold
In our own marketing experience, we find that our current list of clients is the best for new work. Our clients have called us and said for example, “I’ve been reading your newsletters, and I think it’s time for a new website.”
It’s been said many times before – it takes much more effort to gain a new client than sidesell or upsell a current one. Or to ask for a referral from a current client.
Current clients and loved ones provide the best home care referrals. Source: Home Care Pulse 2018.
The well-respected research company Home Care Pulse reports in its 2018 Home Care Benchmarking Study that 21% of home care companies surveyed said that “past and current clients and their loved ones” were one of their top two revenue-generating referrals sources. The source for the second-highest rank was healthcare professionals at home health agencies, at 8%.
In that study, clients also ranked first as the source for revenue generated. Clients and personal referrals were responsible for 25% of revenue (median or middle value), and healthcare professionals were responsible for 21% of revenue. Still a high number for the number one position – current clients.
We have worked the most with email marketing. It’s cheap and quick. We still recommend it to our clients. But another overlooked method is direct mail marketing. Yes, it’s more expensive, but a printed piece that’s delivered to the homeowner makes a tangible impression that goes far beyond the fleeting email that often is not noticed. A mailpiece sits on the table, and gets passed around. You can touch and feel it.
There’s another reason why direct mail is good for home care. A printed piece is more inherently related to home and hospice care than is electronic media. The postcard or envelope arrives in your home, the same place where your loved one lives. There is a mental connection here. That’s why you get so many direct mail pieces for real estate, lawn care, home alarm systems and so on. They are all related to the place where your message lands.
It’s not in the glitz
Marketing to your current clients is often overlooked by businesses. We take them for granted. Other audiences seem so attractive, so available. So glitzy. They are like the girls at the dance. Sure, you brought your girlfriend there, but there are so many other options. Why not play the field? But in the end, it’s the steady girlfriend who is going to be there for the long term.
We at Savvy Senior Marketing would like to talk with you about the marketing successes of home care agencies. Let’s get a better program going for you. Give us a call at the number at the top of this page, or contact us via email.
